


Sweet Things

by prototyping



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill, and the other doesn't know how to properly social, in which one is the most social of butterflies, it sort of hints at some 0.2 stuff so beware?, post-kh3, precious blond oblivion children, this could never go wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2017-02-27
Packaged: 2018-09-27 04:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9965066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prototyping/pseuds/prototyping
Summary: Making new memories is just as important as cherishing the ones you have. Ventus + Naminé, post-KH3.





	

“Hey! Naminé!” Ven broke into a run the second he spotted the familiar figure, slowing only to scan the street both ways before bolting across.

The young girl standing on the sidewalk turned at the call, surprised but looking pleased to see him. “Ven! Hi.” She crossed her arms behind her back as he drew even with her, regarding him curiously. “I didn’t know you were in town.”

“It was kinda last-minute,” he told her with a shrug. “Have you seen Lea around?”

She shook her head. Other than a pencil sitting above her right ear, she looked the same as he remembered her. “Not since this morning. Roxas said he mentioned something about having errands to run. Radiant Garden, I think.”

“Oh. That’s too bad.” It was nothing that couldn’t wait, so Ven would just have to catch him later, then. With that matter set aside, he turned to the window Naminé been gazing at a moment ago. They were standing outside a bakery, he realized, and behind the glass was an impressive assortment of brightly colored desserts. “So what’re you up to?”

“Oh, nothing, really.” She also looked at the display, smiling warmly. “I walk this way every afternoon. I like to stop by and see what they’ve made for the day.”

“That sounds nice. Is the food as good as it looks?”

Naminé glanced at him. “...I don’t know,” she admitted. “I’ve never been inside.”

“Huh? Why not?”

“Well… I guess… it just seems like somewhere you’d go with a friend.” She smiled again, but this time it was sheepish as she linked her fingers together in front of her stomach. “And Roxas and Xion have been busy lately… so I just look from here. But I like it,” she added brightly, turning back to him. “They make something different every day, and it always smells really nice.”

Ven could agree with that. Even out here on the curb, the scent of hot, fresh food was _very_ noticeable, and it smelled amazing. Which instantly reminded him that he hadn’t eaten since early that morning.

“How about I go with you?” he offered. Naminé blinked at him, appearing more surprised than she had at his appearance, and he amended, “I know I’m not Roxas, but… you really helped us out before.” While his smile stayed, the look he gave her right then was almost serious. Pointed, even. “So… I think of you as a friend. If that counts.”

Again she blinked, but this time it was followed shortly by a laugh. It was a brief, gentle sound -- cute, Ven supposed, although that was the first time he’d ever associated that word with a person -- and it was more warmth than amusement. “Thanks, Ven. I do, too. And… I’d like that.” She followed him to the door, giggling when he opened it with a bow and waved her in with a flourish.

The inside was bigger than the outside suggested. A third of the room was taken up by the counter and the busy employees behind it; the rest was scattered with two-person tables and a few booths. It was less like a bakery and more of a cafe.

Naminé made a beeline for the counter, leaning forward with her hands on her knees to observe all the baked goods behind the glass. The window display had been impressive, but hardly a sample of all that they had to offer. There were the usual things -- cakes, pies, breads, donuts -- but probably a fourth of the inventory were foods Ven had no name for. When he moved closer to read the little tags designating each piece, that still didn’t help. He wasn’t even sure how “crêpe” was pronounced.

“Oh! They’re so cute!”

He stepped up beside Naminé to follow her stare. On the lowest shelf was a tray of white, thickly frosted cupcakes that resembled smiling moogle faces. She had her hands clasped in front of her mouth and looked only a couple shades short of delighted. “I haven’t seen these before.”

The follow-up to that seemed obvious. “You want one?” Ven asked.

“Hm? Oh -- well…” Uncertainty curbed her excitement. “That would be nice, but I didn’t bring any munny. But they’re really pretty to look at.”

That, too, had a clear solution. “That’s no big deal. I have enough for both of us,” he offered. “Why don’t we stay here and eat?” He wasn’t sure that deserved yet another look of surprise, but sure enough, Naminé shot him one.

“O-Oh -- really? That’s very nice of you, Ven -- but I didn’t mean to…”

He shook his head. “Don’t worry! I want to. That’s what friends do, right?” They did nice things for each other. It wasn’t something you kept track of or anything, either. You did it to show how much a person meant to you, and as far as Ven was concerned, Naminé was as good a friend as any of his new allies.

Reassured by that, somehow, Naminé hummed as she bobbed her head. “I… yes, I suppose so. Thank you.”

A couple minutes later the two of them had claimed the corner, a small table that was nestled directly between two floor-to-ceiling windows. They ended up directly in the sunlight, but the soft glow of dusk was easy on their eyes and didn’t add much heat to the cool space.

Rather than starting on her cupcake, Naminé seemed to study it for a moment, and then pulled the pencil out from behind her ear. Curious, Ven watched as she smoothed out her paper napkin and began to use it as a canvas, sketching some circles. The glare on the table kept him from making out too much, so he just watched her hands as he broke into his pie slice. Her movements seemed both concentrated and casual, each stroke of her pencil looking effortless but intentional. Even if he couldn’t see what she was drawing, Ven was surprised by how interesting it was to watch regardless.

After a couple minutes of this, Naminé leaned back a little, and then did a doubletake when she noticed Ven’s stare. For a second or two she looked confused, as though suddenly remembering where she was. Then she broke into a shy smile. “I’m sorry. I got carried away.”

“Heh, at least you’re havin’ fun. What’re you drawing?”

She turned the napkin around and held it up for him to see. Outlined in blue was a life-sized depiction of her cupcake, although she’d taken some liberties with adding sparkles on the edges. Below that were a couple of small figures sitting at a table--

“Hey!” Ven laughed. “Is that us?”

“Mm.” Naminé nodded as she set the napkin aside and pulled her plate closer. “This is a nice memory. I wanted to get it down, to help remember it.”

That was a creative way of looking at it. “You really like drawing, huh? You’re good, too -- you didn’t even look at me the whole time you were drawing me.”

“If it’s you, I don’t have to,” she said simply, and then paused at the same time that Ven tilted his head curiously.

“Why’s that?”

“Um--”

Ven had never seen her look embarrassed before -- well, he’d never seen a lot of the moods that he had in the past ten minutes with her. Running her fingers over her clean fork for a few beats, Naminé finally set it down and met his gaze. “You’re in a lot of memories, Ven,” she told him fondly. “Not mine -- but Terra’s, Aqua’s… even Roxas’ and Sora’s, although those two didn’t know it. It was the nature of your bonds. Before I met you face-to-face, I knew what you looked like. The memories of you were so strong, especially from your friends…” She closed her eyes and shook her head gently, and then opened them again with her same small smile. “They’re still as clear as my own. I couldn’t forget if I tried -- not that I want to,” she added quickly. “So… that’s why. I don’t have to look at you to really remember what you’re like.” She gave a quiet, almost nervous little laugh as she gathered her hands in her lap. “I hope that’s not too weird.”

Weird? Ven almost laughed at that. He and _weird_ had a very complicated history together by now. Hearing that he’d left an impression on Naminé, whether it was a good one or just okay, was hardly worth scratching his head over. “Nah, that’s not weird at all. It’s… kinda nice to know that, really.” Not only that she didn’t seem to mind harboring those memories, but what she had said about Terra and Aqua -- that their memories of him were strong -- was kind of reassuring. Ven hadn’t been able to hide his disappointment in himself from them recently, his guilty frustration at having done _nothing_ for so many years while the two of them had continued to fight. They both assured him that it wasn’t the case, that their memories of him had helped sustain them at the worst of times, but he had been tempted to write that off as well-intentioned lies.

But now, hearing this so casually from Naminé… Ven felt a vein of truth running from her words back to theirs.

“And, anyway--” Reaching across the table, he slid her napkin artwork closer to get a better look. “You don’t have to worry about forgetting this,” he assured her brightly. “We can do it again sometime.”

It was Naminé’s turn to tilt her head. “Really? You’d want to?”

“Sure! Let’s try and get Roxas and the others to come along, too.”

It might have just been the sunlight, but Ven thought there was a new glow to her face as she nodded. “...Okay!”


End file.
